Pomo Mythology and Origin Stories
COYOTE THE CREATER
COYOTE TOOK A DIPPER OF WATER AND THREW IT UP INTO THE SKY. AS THE WATER SPRINKLED BACK DOWN, CLOUDS FORMED IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH INCREASING AND SPREADING UNTIL THEY CAME TOGETHER UNTIL IN THE EAQST WHERE THE SUN RISES. THEN THEY TRAVELEDWEST UNTIL THEY CONVENED THE ENTIRE SKY. THIS TOOK FOUR DAYS.
COYOTE NEXT TOOK AN OAK GULL AND CUT IT SO THAT IT HAD FIVE CORNERS. THIS HE THREW UP INTO THE SKY AND IMMEDIATELY IT BECAME THE SUN. HE MADE MOON OUT OF BLUE CLAY AND THREW HER UP INTO THE SKY.
SUN SAID TO MOON, "I WILL MAKE YOU MY MOTHER. YOU KNOW WHO MADE US."
YES SAID MOON. I DO AND WILL TELL YOU. HE MADE THE SKY ALSO. IT WAS COYOTE.
COYOTE ASKED "HOW SHALL WE MAKE IT DARK?"
MOON SAID WE'LL MAKE A BIG FIRE AND THEN TAKE A WILLOW CLUB AND STRIKE IT AND MAKE IT GO OUT. THAT WILL MAKE IT DARK. COYOTE DID THAT AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES NIGHT.
COYOTE SAID MOTHER YOU WILL NOT COME OUT FOR TWO OR THREE NIGHTS SOMETIMES AND THEN YOU WILL COME OUT AND GROW AGAIN.
SUN SAID I WILL NOT GO OUT. I WILL RISE EVERY MORNING REGULARLY. NOW WE WILL HAVE TO SEPARATE. BUT FIRST HOW SHALL WE MAKE THE EARTH SHAKE?
MOON REPLIED WHEN I SHAKE MY HEAD THIS WILL BE AN EARTHQUAKE.
COYOTE THEN SAID "NOW I WILL CREATE ALL THINGS". HE CREATED ALL THE VARIOUS BIRDS, ANIMALS, PLANTS ALL KINDS OF FOOD. HE CREATED ALL THESE AND TOLD THEM JUST WHAT THEY WERE TO DO. HE CREATED ALL OF THESE AND TOLD THEM JUST WHAT TO DO, HOW SOME OF THEM WERE TO LIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS, IN THE WATER AND SO ON.
HE THEN SAID I WILL LIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS AND WILL ALWAYS BE THERE. EVEN IF THEY KILL COYOTES. I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE.
COYOTE AND COUGAR'S SONS Coyote ('Kunula') and Cougar set up for their sons to play a sports game. Most of Coyote's children died. The last two of Coyote's sons chased a ball into a sweathouse and were killed by the resident the Sun (a spirit being). Later through trickery and persistence Coyote retrieved the bodies of his two sons in a bag. Because he had trouble seeing in the darkness Coyote split open the bag and his son's two bodies created light and became the physical sun and the moon in the heavens.[1]
LIZARD FINGERS
Another "Creation" myth is that Coyote and Lizard ('Hatanutal') were in a sweathouse near Upper Lake, California. Coyote split up some willow and dogwood sticks, painted them, and set them upright in the dirt. The sticks turned into human beings with paws rather than hands. Coyote then put some hemp around them. The hemp became fleas that jumped onto the human beings. Lizard suggested the people needed hands with fingers in order to be more useful, and Coyote suggested they wrestle over that. Coyote and Lizard wrestled. Lizard won the wrestling match and thus the people as Lizard proposed were given fingers, as well as language.[2]
Pomo Poetry
THE VOICE OF THE INDIAN NATION
They came with picks and axes and guns in tow,
and told the Indian Nation, you will have to go.
They cared little about nature, and less for the land,
now left with no place to go, we must make our stand.
They let us starve in winter, and put many warriors to rest.
They walk around like kings of the earth; like they're the only blest.
But now I say to the white man,
conquers of old and new, many diasterous events, will soon come to you!
Because God, our might creator, and his blessed son, will not let you trample mother earth,
and walk as if you have won. So come on brothers and sisters, lets dance and sing our song,
and come together once again, and make our nation strong!
THE MEDICINE MAN (CALL OF THE WOLF) On a cold moonlit night, with snow upon the ground,
majestic mountains standing tall, where no soul is found,
only the medicine man, with his palette round.
In the distance, a hooting owl, as he takes to flight,
or the faint bobcat growl, as he vanishes from sight,
then silence, as the medicine man chants long into the night.
Suddenly a heart-felt cry; a wolf stands by the tree,
with his amber soulful eyes, appearing magically, like a spirit, roaming wild and free.